


Warmth

by dinolaur



Series: 100 Bucky Feels to Counter 100 Tony Kills [13]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-01
Updated: 2014-05-01
Packaged: 2018-01-21 12:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1550852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinolaur/pseuds/dinolaur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony makes Bucky a new arm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warmth

SHIELD’s tech is good, but Stark is convinced that his is better. Not that Bucky really doubts him, because holy cow, that suit of armor and the Tower itself. Jeez. And Steve is more impressed by all of Stark’s stuff than he was even with Howard’s, so there’s that. And yeah, Steve has stars in his eyes with regards to the Starks, but that doesn’t mean he is blind to their faults. Hell, if anything, he keeps an eye trained on them.

It’s Steve who makes the offer to him, because he knows that if it was Stark, Bucky wouldn’t accept. He is pretty sure Steve is the one who suggested it to Stark in the first place too. Because Stark doesn’t like him and isn’t out to do him any favors. But he will do just about anything if Steve asks.

It’s something that Bucky really needs to address, but he needs to wait for an opportunity when Steve isn’t likely to skip in on the conversation.

JARVIS calls them down to the workshop rather than Stark bothering to come up to get them himself. Bucky would pass it off as laziness if he didn’t know it was a Stark trait to be so completely engrossed in a project that even eating and sleeping don’t matter. So they head down, and Stark looks just like his old man, everything from the ruffled hair and half askew goggles to the disheveled clothes and grease stains. He grins widely, which is of course meant for Steve, and launches into a tirade of techno babble and stroking of his own ego.

Like it needs it.

But, then again, the end product sure as hell is worth some congratulatory back patting. The new arm looks amazing, even more realistic than the one Bucky has now, which is saying something. It still has a star on the shoulder, but this time it's white in a circle of blue, and Steve grins at it. It almost matches his shield. So, that much was his idea then. He rolls his eyes at him, and Steve only grins more.

Stark goes on about all the features of the new model, improved strength capabilities, storage compartments, computer uplinks, things like that. It even has a camouflage mode, in which it mimics skin tone so it won’t seem like a hunk of metal sticking out from under his shirt. He won’t have to wear gloves in public to hide it. And then Stark says something that really throws him. “It won’t be quite as sensitive as your biological arm, but there are some touch sensors in there.”

Bucky freezes. Steve, standing at his left side, reaches out to lay a comforting hand on shoulder. He only feels the small portion of his hand that crosses over past the metal.

“You mean I—I can—“

“You’ll be able to feel things with it,” Stark says, and the overly proud expression he was wearing earlier has shifted into something more subtle and understanding.

Wow. Just, wow.

It takes him a moment to wrap his head around that. He never gave it any thought during the bad years, and by now he is used to the day to day not being able to feel anything with the replacement. Sometimes, there is still some phantom feeling there, but he knows he is just imagining it. But this, this will be real. Or as close to real as he can ever come again.

His hand—the real one, never the robotic—is shaking, so Steve helps him get his shirt off. Stark’s robot assistants take care of the removal of the old model and putting the new one in place. And then Stark is there, goggles down and tools out. He does a good few minutes’ worth of tinkering and jerking the thing around and attaching this to here and that to there before heading back to his computers. He uploads some program and stands up. “Done,” he says, pushing the goggles over his head.

And Bucky just stands there for a few minutes staring down at the new hand, so much more streamlined and realistic, when he doesn’t take into account the shinning metal. He just stares at it, too scared to even move the fingers. God, what if Stark is wrong? What if it doesn’t work? Those couple of moments of having that hope back, he really, really doesn’t want that dashed. Because, Jesus, if he could feel things again, that would just be so beyond anything.

Steve moves to stand in front of him and smiles softly. He doesn’t say anything, doesn’t force him to move or even reach out himself. He just stands there, letting him know he is there and he can take his time, because he won’t go anywhere.

And it’s slow going, but Bucky lifts his hand up towards him. It hovers near his face, the fingers twitching oddly. They aren’t quite clenching, but wow, that is way more sensitive movement than the old one. He takes in a deep breath, and his fingers brush against the golden strands of his hair.

Oh shit. _Oh shit_.

He can feel it. He can feel Steve's hair. He can actually feel the soft texture, the way the tresses cool the further away from his skin. Steve’s smile stretches wider, and Bucky rests the hand against his cheek. Warm. It’s warm. Steve's hand comes up to grasp his own, and God, it’s so warm. He can feel every little motion of Steve's thumb rubbing soothingly over his knuckles.

His other hand goes up to wipe under Bucky's eyes, and that is when he notices that he is crying. But he doesn’t care, and he doesn’t care that Stark is there to see it, because sweet Jesus, he can feel things again.


End file.
